Re-Thinking the Christian Worldview

June 23, 2013

KIVU Parent's Day

It's probably one of my favorite days of the 14 day term. Oh, who am I kidding? Every day we've got people running around KIVU is my favorite day.

But Friday, we welcomed the families of students who have been through our 14 day term here at KIVU. We gave them a place to buy KIVU stuff, showed them around the camp, and then I had the time honored sacred privilege of speaking to the parents about what's going on here.

I explained our vision of camping. I tried to help them see our work to re-define the word.I told them of our 7 day Wilderness Trips called Back country Experience.I helped them see the international flare we are working toward building The KIVU Gap Year.And at the end, one father asked me a pointed question, "If you could give us one parenting tip to help encourage our kids growth from this place, what would it be?"

I thought for a second while my mind raced a million miles an hour.How in the world could I boil it all down to just one?Then out of no where I blurted, "Let them fail."

You should have seen the looks on the 100 or so parents in the room.It was like I was speaking Japanese. And then I continued...

"If you give your kid a chance to fail under your roof, you have the opportunity to teach them how to get back up, and keep the story going. So many of our kids fail at faith, adventure, friendships, academics, and athletics, and they just don't know how to make it right again."

So, with that said, I had some INCREDIBLE conversations with families from around the country. I'll try to post some of the videos today so you can see.

Once again, I'm humbled by the fact parents trust us here at KIVU with their most prized possessions, and I take the responsibility VERY seriously to make sure we are helping teenagers grow into well healed, well thought out, well matured adults.

Thank you for your Trust.

Today begins another day at KIVU, and I can't wait to start a new adventure.